North Union schools levy

The district is seeking a permanent improvement levy, which can be used for things such as building construction and maintenance, computers and buses.

The basics

Your cost: $168 a year for a $100,000 house, all of which would be new. The owner of that home now pays about $1,113 in district taxes. However, the district will soon reduce the amount of taxes it collects on a recent bond issue because the project came in under budget, and if this levy passes, it will drop a 1.8-mill emergency levy, making the net new tax about $50 a year.

Amount: 5.5 mills

Years: permanent

To raise: $753,700 a year

Current district budget: $12 million

Why the district is asking

The district has been involved in an Ohio School Facilities Commission building project since 2002, with a new prekindergarten through fifth-grade building already open. Crews will break ground for a middle school Feb. 23. This money will allow another phase to continue, adding five classrooms for music, vocational agriculture and advanced courses to the high school; adding an auxiliary gym to the district's school complex, including a wrestling area, additional concessions and restrooms; adding a 700-seat auditorium; and allowing for the purchase of computers, buses and the like.

When the district last asked

The last time the district asked for new operating money was in 1996. A bond issue for construction was approved in 2002, and renewal levies were approved in 2004 and 2005.

Comments

Superintendent Rick Smith: “This is really finishing a dream for us, and would allow the district to have everything we need to take our students into the future. And because we're able to, at this time, roll back taxes on one other issue and give a rebate on another, it's a way for the district to get what it needs and still be affordable to our residents.”